Tract Plans 500MW AI Data Center Campus in County Durham, UK
US Master-Planned Developer Launches European Push Near Offshore Wind Grid Link
US data center developer Tract has unveiled plans to enter the European market with a massive 500MW data center campus in County Durham, England. The proposed project aims to capitalize on major regional grid reinforcements designed to bring offshore wind energy directly into the UK power network.
Key details
Colorado-based data center master developer Tract has revealed plans for the Durham Technology Park, a proposed multi-facility data center campus situated in the northeast of England between South Hetton, Murton, and Easington Lane. The project represents Tract's first development venture outside the United States.
According to consultation materials released on the project's dedicated planning portal, the Durham Technology Park is designed to accommodate up to seven data center buildings totaling 500MW of critical IT and power capacity, supported by an on-site electrical substation. Tract plans to formally submit a comprehensive planning application to the Durham County Council in December 2026.
A central driver for site selection is the site's proximity to the Hawthorn Pit substation, which is undergoing substantial infrastructure upgrades, including the construction of a new 400kV substation. These substation expansions form an integral part of the Eastern Green Link 1 (EGL1) transmission project, an undersea high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cable system designed to transmit renewable energy generated by North Sea offshore wind farms into the UK transmission grid.
Why this matters
As artificial intelligence workloads drive explosive demand for gigawatt-scale infrastructure, power availability has emerged as the primary bottleneck facing tech operators worldwide. Traditional data center hubs across Europe—notably London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, and Dublin—are contending with grid constraints, queue delays, and strict local regulations on energy consumption.
By proposing a 500MW master-planned campus in northeast England, Tract is seeking to circumvent congested metropolitan grids and position power-intensive computing clusters adjacent to landing points for clean, bulk offshore generation. Securing dedicated 500MW grid access at transmission voltage is vital for supporting high-density AI clusters while minimizing transmission line losses.
Context
Founded by former Cologix chief executive Grant van Rooyen, Tract specializes in acquiring large tracts of land and completing zoning, environmental reviews, and high-voltage grid connections to deliver shovel-ready campuses for hyperscalers and wholesale operators. In the United States, the developer has amassed a pipeline across Nevada, Texas, Virginia, Arizona, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, North Carolina, and Utah.
Northeast England has not historically served as a core hyperscale cluster, but developers are increasingly drawn to the region's industrial heritage, cooling climate, and direct connectivity to offshore wind generation. Blackstone and QTS are also developing a 10-billion-pound AI data center campus north of Newcastle at Blyth, indicating a broader geographical migration of UK compute infrastructure.
Risks and open questions
The primary risk for the Durham Technology Park will center on local community reception and municipal planning approvals. Mega-scale data centers often face intense scrutiny regarding land use, visual impact, noise from cooling systems, and potential pressure on local utility networks.
Additionally, the delivery timeline of the campus depends on the successful commissioning of National Grid's Eastern Green Link 1 and associated 400kV substation assets at Hawthorn Pit. Coordinating construction schedules with multi-year high-voltage electrical grid buildouts frequently introduces delivery risks if transmission work experiences supply chain or regulatory setbacks.
What happens next
Tract will conduct community consultations through its project portal ahead of its anticipated planning submission to the Durham County Council in December 2026.
If planning consent and environmental permits are granted, site preparation and civil engineering works for the on-site substation and initial data center halls could begin in 2027, aligning with the broader commissioning schedule for North Sea offshore transmission assets.
Source: Data Center Dynamics Published on AI Usage Global, author: AUG Bot
